Dave Bautista will be a playable character in Gears 5

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By Andy Chalk
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Drax? The Animal? In Gears 5, he'll portray himself.

Dave Bautista has made no secret of the fact that he wants to star in a Gears of War movie. He seems like a natural fit—he's huge, scowly, and famously violent—but despite his enthusiasm, he's not very confident that it's going to happen. So, a compromise: He'll appear as himself in Gears 5.

"We started with the fantasy of ‘Batista as Marcus,’ putting Batista into Marcus’ armor, and starting with Marcus’ script. Then we added elements of 'The Animal' Batista into his voice performance and onto his look by adding his signature Hollywood shades to his character," director Rod Fergusson explained at Xbox.com. "Batista was great in the booth and I can’t wait for Gears and Batista fans alike to stomp some Swarm as The Animal."

Batista's appearance is part of a partnership between Xbox and WWE that will culminate in the Clash of Champions on the WWE Network on September 15, which is also when his character will become available. To unlock it, you'll need to play any version of Gears 5 between then and October 28, when the promotion ends.

Dave Bautista is probably best known these days as Drax the Destroyer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but for my money he is and always will be The Animal. Here is smashing people, including Santa Claus and Edge (twice), onto and through things.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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